google, how far is earth to the moon? the moon is 238,900 miles... "the great moment had come." 3, 2, 1... [ giggling ] >> only 2,000. sgood: and now a page from our sunday morning almanac. december 30, 1695, 317 years ago today. the day the world lost a visionary of mathematics. for that was the day the english inventor sir samuel moreland died at age 70. among other things moreland created a so-called multiplying instrument regarded by some as the very first calculating machine. of course, these devices have multiplied many times over since then, both in number and in size. by the mid 1950s, i.b.m.'s huge main frame computers were the industry standard. >> characteristically they had slow information input and output performance, but their computing power was the marvel of the 1950s. >> reporter: the '60s gave us the hand-held calculator. and in 1981, i.b.m. introduced its first personal computer. it could fit on a desktop and was chock full of state-of-the-art features. >> a high resolution printer. the option for graphics and the new standard i.b